Picture of the Day
"People, People, People. I come today as one of you...."
Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton speaks at the AFL-CIO's Workers for a Better Iowa Hawkeye Labor Council Meeting in Cedar Rapids, Iowa in this Aug. 18, 2007 file photo. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)
posted by mikevotes at
9:19 AM
4 Comments:
she actually looks slightly distressed in that one
also, i just wanted to mention a new blog to yo uand hope you could add it to your blogroll.
its called exit stage right http://exitstageright.wordpress.com and although it is not your usual area it is a news service about the mass extincition we are currently in the early stages of.
By
Anonymous, at 8:41 AM
Clinton seems to be going for the Ellen DeGeneres look... only frumpier. (Not that there's anything wrong with that). It just seems a little... forced. Like Mitt in a hunting jacket.
By
-epm, at 8:48 AM
I'm a union member (United Federation of Teachers.) Edwards would clearly be the best candidate for me and if he's still around by the time NY votes, I will vote for him. I suspect he will not be, however.
If it's between Obama and her, I will have to vote for her (despite her DLC past.)
Obama is the anti-teachers' union candidate. He has already told me that I don't work long enough, hard enough, and I don't do such a good job (look at his website, you'll see what I mean.) As such, he intends to lengthen the school day, lengthen the school year, and begin paying teachers based on test scores (never mind that that means paying the honors class/suburban teachers REALLY good money while the regular ed and special ed teachers in the inner city will get shit wages...)
Obama understands nothing about public education. There is nothing on his website about smaller class sizes, healthy school buildings, or more resources for schools. He's all about blaming teachers for the problems in education. Longer days and a longer year (Obama wants to make school year round) will not solve education problems. Lowering my yearly total of 350 kids to say, 250, and putting air conditioning into my classroom so the heat falls below 95 degrees once in a while will.
HRC at least addresses class size and healthy buildings on her website. She is nowhere near perfect (she too believes in merit pay without addressing how it will be done fairly) and I am not happy having to vote for her, but at least she understands that lowering class size from 35 will go a long way toward solving some of the problems in education.
But if Edwards is still around, I will vote for him.
And before you ask why I am putting so much emphasize on my own bread and butter issue, between the last 6+ years of Bush rule and the last 5+ years of Bloomberg rule, my school system has been reorganized 3 times, the contract I work under has been gutted, I am working longer and harder for less pay per hour, and I have seen 10 additional standardized tests added a year to the curriculum (in preparation for Bloomberg adding merit pay to the next NYC contract via the shitty negotiations of the UFT.) I have seen my class size go up (not down!), I have seen NO capital improvements to my school building or classroom, and I have watched our school go from 100% capacity to 200% capacity.
Obama will just makes things worse for me as a teacher. HRC may too, but at least she hasn't stated it publicly yet.
By
Reality-Based Educator, at 9:17 AM
Cool Michael. I'm intrigued, I'll take a look.
...
EPM, Staying in the area, I see her more as a modernized softer Tootsie. (Although I really don't think that's fair.)
....
Reality,
I still haven't decided. Historically, Texas has been so late that I always cast a protest vote of some type.
Depending on how it all plays out, I may end up voting in the Repub primary in an effort to get rid of my state's shame Sen. John Cornyn. He may face a real challenge from a more centrist primary challenger.
AND, I think you should fully vote your interests. I actually think that's pretty important. If you don't, who will.
By
mikevotes, at 10:40 AM
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